Weekly Roundup | July 17-24

Posted on July 25, 2017

Weekly Roundup | ACA Repeal Vote Happening (Again)

July 17-24, 2017

A LOOK AHEAD

The Senate has delayed its annual August Recess by two weeks because major legislative agenda items are still pending. Senate Leader McConnell continues to push forward on a vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act without a replacement plan. The bill is expected to fail but repeal of the Affordable Care Act remains a top priority for this Administration, so more last-minute antics to salvage the effort may continue to get reported out. Meanwhile, will there be action on the federal budget - an effort to cut billions from domestic non-defense and entitlement programs, including Medicare and Social Security - before the August recess? No action means that Congress will have to take up the budget, spending, and raising the debt ceiling upon their return and with tight deadlines.

UPDATES

Recently, Texas’ Attorney General and nine other states sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, threatening to sue the federal government if they do not rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program by September 5. However, NCAPA urges President Trump to unequivocally continue support for and implementation of DACA, a federal program that halts the deportation of nearly 800,000 enrolled undocumented immigrants who came to this country as children, allowing them to live and work in this country.

The President’s Advisory Commission on Election Integrity held its first meeting on July 19, 2017. So far, no state has fully complied with the Commission’s unusual request for highly sensitive voter rolls information. In response to the Commission, Rep. Judy Chu, CAPAC Chair, joined Tri-Caucus leaders and Senator Mazie Hirono to introduce the Anti-Voter Suppression Act. While protecting election integrity and voter eligibility is critical for the health of our democracy, most election experts agree that voter fraud does not exist in the U.S. Yet one suggestion for combating voter fraud includes removing voters with the same or similar names from voter rolls in multiple states, which could disproportionately disenfranchise voters of Asian descent.

NCAPA member, the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC), has designed and translated a smartphone app for immigrants and community members who are in crisis or have been approached by police or ICE. The multilingual app currently supports Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, and English. Click here to download this helpful app!